#684 - Luke Bryan on His Son’s Football Rise, Stories Behind Bobby’s Top 10 Songs & How He Feels About Award Show Nominations

0:06 Brooks and Dunn and Alan Jackson wrote my high school experience. Kenny and Tim wrote my college experience. Simple as that.

0:15 Hey, everybody. My guest is Luke Bryan, one of my friends and one of the biggest stars in country music. 32 number ones, more than 20 million concert tickets sold, five Entertainer of the Year awards. some of the biggest songs of the past 15 years in country music from country girl to play it again to that's my kind of night knocking boots. Also where Luke and I got close, he's been on American idol. I think for nine years, I was on for four with him and we traveled many miles back and forth from here to LA. And now Luke is back in a big way. He's been on the road with Jason Aldean for their double down tour, which we'll talk about. He's got a new single country and she knows it. And his new album is called

0:59 signs that came out just a few weeks ago. So Here we go. As I count down my personal top 10 Luke Bryan songs here on the Bobbycast with Luke Bryan. We're going to do something that I've only done with a couple of my friends where I'm actually going to count down my favorite songs of yours.

1:18 Love it.

1:19 And then you will tell me a story either about the song or about the time that it reminds you of when you cut the song or just something.

1:27 Love it. Love it.

1:27 Yeah.

1:28 By the way, how are you?

1:29 I'm great. Like... It's really been like a magical fall because I'm touring and Bo is quarterbacking the high school team. I'm there Friday nights. Then I'm back out on the road Saturday. I told somebody today I felt like I've been in an industrial washing machine for about five days getting tossed around, but hey.

1:57 You're popping up as much in my sports algorithm as you are my music algorithm. Because it's Luke Bryan's at high school football games, his son Bo.

2:06 Well, what was interesting, so Bo's first high school start was on ESPN. And I had already made that in my brain as big a deal as I could make it. Because that's not really the way you want your son's first high school start to be. But... I guess it is. And what I was not prepared for is the game happens.

2:39 He has a great game. But, man, I have so many– you don't realize the enormity of the people that saw the highlights on their Instagrams, TikToks. They actually watched the game. I mean, I had 200 dudes– come up to me over the next two weeks after the game going, it was like everybody knew it happened. And it's not like I was out there pumping it. I didn't want to do that because, you know. You're going to put the extra pressure on your kid. Right. So it was just amazing the scope of how stuff like that hits everybody's phone.

3:19 And now, now, you know, we're a little more aware of it. But it's pretty crazy how. stuff is connected in that way.

3:26 I was watching the game. It was interesting because, again, it was you– and it's Phillip Rivers.

3:32 Right.

3:33 And so they were showing both of you guys because Phillip Rivers' son is also on the team.

3:38 He's the quarterback and.

3:39 Phillip's the coach. And so watch the game, watch Bo ball out, which was crazy. And then I knew you'd be getting crushed. So I waited like two days, and I was like, hey, man, Bo was awesome. Because I can only imagine your phone was just smoking. Man, it was a lot.

3:52 You know, I mean, I can honestly say I've never– you're trying to be the calm within the storm person, the dad that's holding it all together. But, man, it really has been– it was a lot for me. And it was a lot just because just watching his whole journey to get to be the high school quarterback. And even last week's game, we played a big crosstown rival. And, Bobby, I mean, I'm in the stands and I'm borderline. I've never, like, hyperventilated.

4:28 but I'm borderline doing it. And I've got to, I didn't get his, you know, he didn't play. I mean, he didn't, he didn't play his junior year. It's his senior year. And I'm just over there like, Oh my God. Cause it's a lot, but he keeps answering the call. And, and I think the more he settles in even more, I can start relaxing, but it's, it's, but man, it's really special. Happy for him. Happy for the work he's put in and.

4:58 I see the articles about the offers that he gets to play college ball. Are you involved in that process at all with him?

5:04 You know, I am. I mean, when he gets a new offer, we talk it out. I was on the phone with a coach this morning. I got to be careful because I know enough about everything to like, like he called me, he's like, dad, this reporter called me and what should I do? And I was like, man, no, don't do that. And then I was like, you know what?

5:32 Let's do it. It's like I don't want to take my years of like doing interviews and kind of looking behind the curtain. Like he needs to go. If some people are calling him, reaching out for interviews and stuff like that, he needs to. I don't need to always shoot all that stuff down because I know it. Even there's been some agents that have called and we got on the phone with them and I almost said, I know 10 agents. We don't have to talk to this one.

6:07 And then I'm like, I'm not going to do that to him. He met this guy. Let's meet him. So that's the little stuff we're navigating. But the biggest thing is I never wanted to overhype him and then he didn't answer the call and then I didn't want to under hype him. And then, so we're in a nice balance. Every time he starts throwing the football, coaches and recruiters are very like, oh wow, this is a real deal.

6:35 So we're kind of living in that space and he's having a blast.

6:39 Does he work hard?

6:40 Man, he works, he's got a different brain. You know, we went to a vacation spot that had a like practice area He took his footballs. I mean, he's out there doing workouts during 4th of July by himself, 6.30 in the middle of the summer. And, you know, he's just got that brain to, he does, like when he comes downstairs, he sits in his room and he just messes with his footballs. He changes visors out on his helmets and I mean, he's got it buttoned up. That's cool. Almost.

7:27 That's cool that that's his passion because there could be so many things.

7:31 It really is. And it's really cool seeing how motivated he is.

7:41 That's cool.

7:41 I mean, he sat down with me two weeks ago and he says, Dad, I want to do this, this, this. And he hadn't done that to me yet. And I said, you really want to do those three things?

7:52 Yes.

7:53 Like, he's like, we got to talk to these people. So in this time frame, this will be ready. And I said, all right. So I started, I kickstarted it. And every time I say, all right, one thing's handled. He's like, all right, what about the other thing? And I'm like, you sure? He's like, yep. And I'm like, okay.

8:19 And then, so he ain't backing down.

8:21 That's cool. Yeah.

8:23 It's really cool. I mean, and, you know, when you have your kids that are that set on a goal, man, you just need to... Was that you with music? It was me with music. You know, my parents, I never really had to have a curfew. I never really got in any legitimate trouble because... Yeah, I mean, I was, even in college, I started, I mean, when I'm playing that many concerts in college and running off, playing this gig, driving back, college, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you know, you don't really have enough, you know, time to get in really, you know, my parents didn't ever really, like, have to call me and, like, have us sit down and go, you know, you got to get your act together, right?

9:13 There's no time to be in trouble whenever all your time is like trying to make it.

9:16 Yeah. And you're, you know, and I'm not saying I was like. Oh, you are.

9:20 You're a saint. We know.

9:21 No, not at all. But, but, you know, the thing about it is I think even when I got out of college is when I really was like even more like, all right, it's go time. So, but, you know, and it's funny, Tate, my youngest son, he's that way about golf. So he comes home, he goes to, He gets his golf clubs, and he's gone, and he's working on golf.

9:45 And it's just fun watching him grow up to be independent little dudes.

9:51 I got a long ways to go. You just met our daughter.

9:55 I saw I saw her and you were you were you were in a pickle in all aspects yeah we're in it it's it's great the beauty of it is given giving listen I mean your world is your world and a large piece of that got Oh, yeah. Got carved away. What's the street meat they sell?

10:24 Oh, did they hang and they cut off of it from the, yeah, I don't know.

10:32 What is the meat?

10:35 I'm not going to know.

10:36 Yeah, the, God, it's like lamb.

10:39 It is lamb. And it's where you get the Suzuki sauce.

10:44 Well, yours got carved. A big hunk of it got chopped off when you, you know.

10:49 Okay.

10:50 Let's do the list here.

10:51 Let's do the list.

10:53 At number 10 on my list is because of where this song puts me. And it's when we first moved to town. Me, when That's My Kind of Night came out.

11:01 Oh, awesome.

11:02 Like songs, I think both of us could speak to this. Even we're growing up, we can remember songs that make us remember like parts of our life. Like there are songs that remind me of certain parts of my life. And whenever we moved to town, that's my kind of night. And that record for you was just coming out. And so that's a number 10 on my list. What does that make you think about?

11:22 Man, the first thing that that song makes me think about, first of all, that that's my kind of night tour that we launched where I come up in a flaming pickup truck standing on the hood.

11:39 I don't remember that.

11:40 Well, and that was my, that was like my, I mean, that was my introduction to here I am. This is my brand. I think the big takeaways of that song are like that tour, which was essentially really, I had some stadiums incorporated on that tour. We were just all systems go. That song was giant, but the bass line in that, I mean, just the way that song incorporated like a country lyric with almost a hip-hop bass line behind it, it just said so much. It was, I loved that it was, I just liked that it kind of had that hip-hop, club kind of thing. And just watching, just watching people, uh, just groove to it. And I was so confident up there on top of that truck, delivering that song for the first song.

12:51 You ever get burned?

12:52 Never fell off of it. Never got burned. There were literally like of, of, All of my moments, like the Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial where he caught on fire, this was my moment to fall off and catch on fire. You never did. Never felt, and I was on the hood, the roof of the truck, and if I would have fallen off, I would have landed on flaming propane.

13:17 I don't remember the Michael Jackson thing live because I think we were too young.

13:21 I was young too, but.

13:23 So, yeah, yeah. I mean, I think for both of us, because we're basically the same age, We don't remember it, but we've heard stories about it and we've seen people talk about it. But when I watched the movie, Michael, and it talked about him having to be in the hospital for such a long time, I thought that he only like had his hair burned and it was a small thing. I didn't realize he was in like ICU.

13:42 See, I hadn't watched the movie yet and I didn't know it was that.

13:45 I had no, I thought his hair just caught on fire and that was the joke. That was always the joke.

13:49 But he really like. Who knew? I didn't know that. Well, I think they were pretty good at. secrecy in the old MJ camp. They probably didn't expose that to the world.

14:00 You could do whatever you wanted. Whatever you wanted. It didn't matter. You could do whatever you wanted. Okay, number nine. And if you remember writing these songs, like Rain is a Good Thing, that song is so long ago in our world because everything is new cycle, new cycle. It could feel like 100 years ago and yesterday at the same time. Some of these songs from back in that part of your career, do you remember actually sitting in a room?

14:22 I remember me and Dallas Davidson sitting in the room, Working on it. The cool thing about that song is we grew up with a guy that always would toast his whiskey drink going, cheers, boys. Rain makes corn. Corn makes whiskey. And he didn't, you know, that was what he said. And then when Dallas and I were in the room, and you got to understand, Dallas had been sleeping on my couch for, um had just gotten off house arrest and are you being serious or a joke this is for real well i never know with you no dallas had been on house arrest in atlanta i love it so he moves to nashville so he he calls me up he goes man i i'm just done with this version of me. I want to move to Nashville and write songs. And I said, buddy, you are

15:27 country as cornbread. You love, he was one of those real like deep divers of even kind of eclectic country. Like, anyway, I said, I'd rather have guys like you come to town. Come on. Stayed on my couch, starved. Him and Jamie Johnson and Randy Houser wrote Honky Tonk, Badonkadonk within his first three months of writing. And then he and I write Rain is a good thing based on a phrase that we heard from a guy we grew up with.

15:59 And then the validating moments when he and I did that is it is he and I writing it. We didn't have some seasoned writer that had 10 BMI awards that the town could go, oh, well, they just piggybacked on this famous writer. I mean, we got pictures of me and Dallas holding up our fingers going number one, and, man, we were pretty confident, and we were like, we were feeling like the energy of the town and starting to, you know, it was a big moment for he and I, college buddies, to pull all that off.

16:45 I got to think when you sing that line, rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey, you can just hold the microphone and the crowd just screams.

16:51 It is. And it's been that way since, you know, I walked into Mike Dungan's office, the president of Capitol. And as an artist, you're hearing other things that you wrote. You know, you're hearing the latest song you recorded. And man, when I played that for Dungan, Dungan was like, that's your single. It's catchy. It's catchy. It's going to take fire.

17:13 And I was like, really? And then when we put it out and saw the reaction, man, it just makes you smile. And it's perfectly me. I mean, I referenced the way my dad looked up at the sky and always worried about hot or dry. And man, me and Dallas just wrote it straight from our damn, straight from our backgrounds.

17:41 Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor. And we're back on the Bobbycast.

17:56 At number eight, sonically, I really liked the intro. It feels a bit surprising, as all my friends say. I like how that comes in, and I feel like At the time, maybe it feels a bit risky because it feels a bit unconventional when the song starts. You wrote that one too. Was that at all part of the process when you were recording it?

18:17 I walked into my still, my producer, Jeff Stevens, and at the time, we're in the process of... I had gotten my record deal and we're making the album and we had recorded a few things together. And I walked into Jeff and I said, hey, man, I want to write this song about, you know, me drinking and getting so kind of wiped out. My friends have to tell me what I did the next morning. And it's called All My Friends Say. And Jeff and I kind of messed with it. And we messed with it and we messed with it. Well, then I go back writing and kind of getting going back. I just got busy. Well, Jeff calls me and he goes, hey, Luke, I played what we had for, there was a really successful drummer, a guy named Lonnie Wilson, who played on tons of

19:19 records that you and I would know when you Google him. And Lonnie has had several songs recorded. big songs as a songwriter too, but he was by trait a drummer and he kicked off the drums and man, they played that guitar riff. And we just, same thing. I mean, without Lonnie really coming in with those drums, it took us into kind of of like that Georgia Satellites mode a little bit.

19:53 Kind of that rockabilly.

19:56 Toby Keith, Little Let's Talk, if you please, you know. And yet again, I turned the album in and I got all these songs that or circling in my head. And Mike Dungan came out and goes, and you know, it was my very first single ever. And it was my first single. And it was what we chose to go with. And I look back and I'm like, I think it was the perfect start to show the world.

20:32 This is kind of what this guy's about. And it's pretty funny. I mean, I remember doing the video. in Athens and people are walking around with... I mean, this is where video budgets were at the time. Think about this. They had like hors d'oeuvre trays at my first video.

20:50 Not on camera for the people that were working? For the people that were working.

20:54 Hors d'oeuvres. And like, sir, would you like an espresso? So our video budget was like 200 grand. You can't get 20 grand... for a video budget these days. Like our videos are pretty much us with an iPhone. And I never will forget because I had some, you know, we were excited to be shooting the first video. Man, I had some buddies come up from South Georgia and they come out there and they got these damn, these dessert trays going around. They're like, look at this idiot.

21:29 He has hit the big time. Little did I know they were billing me back. Yeah, you got to pay that back. Number seven, kiss tomorrow goodbye. Love it. I was in a crazy, weird casino in northern Minnesota. Back then, I really... Probably was borderline a little bit of a gambling issue. Not crazy bad, but bad enough to be in this casino gambling when I was supposed to be writing.

22:15 And Shane McAnally and Jeff Stevens were out. And Jeff's my producer. And I never will forget, I come out of the casino and they're in the bus. And we hit the lick. And the funniest thing about that song is it's the shortest, it's the least worded verse you'll ever hear in your life. All we do right is make love. We both know now that ain't enough. That's the verse. And we were laughing about it, writing it, because we were like, this doesn't feel right.

22:58 It's That it's so little.

22:59 It's so little.

23:01 Like you felt like you didn't put in the actual work.

23:03 We felt like we did not write enough for a verse and we kept trying to add more lyrics, but we just said, hell with it, let's get to, ain't gonna beg you to stay, ain't gonna ask you what's wrong. And man, the coolest thing about that song is it says a lot. We're just going to, We're just going to hook up tonight. We're just going to kiss tomorrow goodbye.

23:32 We know we're not going to be together tomorrow, but let's make our last kind of deal count. And what's been really amazing, here I am 50 years old, and to see the little– it went through like a resurgence with some trends and some TikTok stuff to where– Kids were posting it, the chorus. And man, when I look at the audience and the youthful crowds, you know, your 15 to 22-year-olds singing Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, it's pretty tough.

24:09 It's not tough. It's just pretty interesting to wrap your brain around that that song has kept a young audience, which makes me really proud to I mean, I would say we even went three or four years where we didn't play it live because I maybe overplayed it for years. And then as we saw it increasing streams and increasing and all this stuff, we added it back in. And man, I'm like, this thing's as big of a hit now as it was when it came out. So I just love the simplicity of it.

24:48 And I never realized there were so few words in the verse.

24:53 It really, when you count them.

24:54 I've heard the song a hundred thousand times, but I've never thought to myself, where's the rest of the words? But that just shows you we're consuming it. We're not consuming it the same way. We're not.

25:02 That's the cool thing about it. When the right magic comes together for the song, you don't really need all the things you think you need. It's like... I mean, like, I was in a hunting, an apparel, outdoor apparel store yesterday, and I was listening to Achy Breaky Heart. And I sat there, and I'm like, I'm going to see if I can sing all the words to this. And I nailed every word, and I hadn't. You hear it from time to time. That song is just like cooked forever.

25:45 I went to watch Ronnie and Kix play Brooks and Dunn the other night. We're close with Ronnie and Janine. And so we don't go to concerts. We have a baby.

25:54 It's late.

25:54 Everything's against it. But those were our friends as we wanted to go. And I knew every word to every song. I think there have only been three concerts in my whole life that that was the case, but it's that. It's as the song started, I knew every word and I wasn't really playing a game. About the fifth song, I'm like, I know every single word to every song they're playing. And all these songs are putting me in a specific place in my life that I remember. And Achy Break Your Heart does that too. I think about going to this. We had one store in Mountain Pine.

26:20 And they made hamburgers and we could use food stamps down there. And it was called Parthena's. And they had a big pink shirt because that song was such a cultural phenomenon.

26:30 When Thriller came out.

26:32 Don't say that's country music's Thriller.

26:34 No, I'm not. But I will tell you this. When Thriller came out, we would go sit in front of the TV and wait for the video. When Achy Breaky Heart came out, I remember the TV never left CMT because we literally waited for that video.

26:58 It was a cultural phenomenon. It was a cultural, it really was. It crossed over into such mainstream, but we already knew it because, again, we were watching CMT. We were listening to country radio. And so when it finally hit everybody else, that was kind of weird to see people that didn't know country music loving Achy Breaky Heart.

27:16 Trying to figure it out.

27:17 Yeah.

27:17 All right, next up on my list, at number six, my favorite Luke Bryan songs, I have Sunrise, Sunburn, Sunset. Ooh.

27:24 Yeah. I love that. Why?

27:29 And why is that a surprise that I would pick that?

27:30 I hadn't heard that come up in people's top ten, and I love that song. And I think in the journey of my artistry or my career, there's songs that in my head I hear often. And they don't become as big as you've necessarily envisioned. Now, when I say big, I get a little spoiled because... I mean, I get a little weird by that because you compare other... I compare my own songs to some of my other own songs.

28:05 But when I heard Ryan Hurd's demo of that song, I just knew... It put me in such a visual place of my summers and youthfulness of the summer. And, you know, her daddy had a lake house. He had me paint it that summer sophomore year. It was just great to me. And I just feel like maybe a lot of those, I'm glad to hear you. I mean, I guess what makes it, what puts it in there for you?

28:39 The imagery. while you sing it, because I think anybody that has lived any other life outside at all relates to almost all of that song.

28:48 Sunrise, sunburn, sunset, repeat. I mean, I really had this thing in my head as just, and I tell you though, it's a, it's still a big song. I mean, it hadn't left my set and what was really cool for years, I would make the If we were at an amphitheater, I would divide the crowd up into thirds, and I'd go, sunrise, sunburn, sunset, repeat. And, man, to have the crowd do that, I mean, I get chills talking about it. But, you know, the little red Honda.

29:28 Caroline drove a little red Honda in college. Just the lake life.

29:34 I think if you had summers as a kid, you found a way to relate to that song, even if it wasn't exact. as how it was written. I think that's every song, right? You insert your own story into any sort of words and lyrics. With me, I worked at a marina, and I worked maintenance on a golf course. When the sun went up, I was freaking out there.

29:52 I was working.

29:52 And you remember just the sun. Yes.

29:55 And then at the marina, we would close, but we'd still hang out, and it We would be out on the boats at nighttime. It was just, that song reminds me of parts of my life growing up in Arkansas. That's why I like that song so much.

30:07 Well, and I think, listen, I turned those shutters the color of your eyes.

30:12 I never had girls, so that part, eh.

30:14 Well, but I turned those shutters the color of your eyes till the day turned into night. When you turn the shutters and they're blue, I turned those shutters the color of your eyes till the day turned into night. Took turns with a jar of something. Then we paired off with one another. and that was our summer. Anytime I go after a summer song, I'm trying to get to the level of the Kenny Chesney song, Anything But Mine.

30:47 So if I'm going after one, that's getting to that level is where I'm trying to get to. And I think Sunrise Sunburn got close, but it's hard to get better than anything but mine.

31:01 You can't compare yourself to that.

31:02 Well, but it's, you know, that's what Kenny's music means to me, too. Yes. Because Kenny wrote, McGraw and Kenny wrote my college experience. They, Brooks and Dunn wrote, Brooks and Dunn and Alan Jackson wrote my high school experience. Kenny and Tim wrote. wrote my college experience. Period. Plain as simple as that.

31:31 The Bobbycast. We'll be right back. This is The Bobbycast. I feel like Joe Diffie.

31:47 Wrote my junior high to high school. Like there are certain artists I think about listening to Kiss of 96 because it was radio. It was what was on the radio. Like, man, Joe Diffie was a massive part of it for me.

31:59 Man, our locker room would be full of 80 boys with a jukebox blasting John Deere Green, and we were singing it like the movie Grease. And it's a bunch of... And we worshipped it.

32:20 That guy and I was lucky enough... to have a relationship with him before he died. Like I was lucky enough to actually become friendly with him.

32:27 I spent some time with him.

32:28 And it really started playing the Opry at the same time he was playing the Opry. And then we're just back there and you're just back. You just hang out and talk. And I got to know him and he would come and we'd do stuff together. And I think once I started examining his career, cause he worked at a factory, like he was a guy that was writing songs by himself, but working in a factory and moved over to Nashville and he lost his job. Who'd, Doesn't get the credit, and I think it's because of the character of his mullet and some of his funny songs.

32:56 He was one of the greatest singers.

32:59 The greatest?

33:00 As far as vocalists go.

33:02 As far as range.

33:03 Yes. And because he was so funny and had such character and had... Listen, when Ships comes out, that's a great song where he's on it.

33:11 To go from that.

33:12 Yes.

33:13 To Welcome to Earth, Third Rock from the Sun. I mean, but we were jamming it. And then... They got a love bigger than the Beatles.

33:26 Bigger than the Beatles.

33:27 They got a love. I mean, you know, and I tell you, you know, everybody that lighthearted fun. I mean, I'm just telling you, I just hope it never gets lost in country.

33:41 Can I make a comparison?

33:42 Please.

33:44 I would compare Joe to you in this way, that I think you have such fun songs that a lot of people identify you as the fun guy that has bangers, but they don't know how musically intelligent you are because I don't think, that doesn't scream pay attention to me. When someone knows music and can write and can play and can sing and can do all the things that are behind the scenes that creates wonderful music, that doesn't get the attention because it doesn't scream look at me.

34:15 You have so much of that and I think it is at times overshadowed purposefully and in a good way by I'm Luke Bryan and I'm fun Right. I think Joe had that too.

34:26 Probably. But what I think, you know, maybe my job from present day to now is to sprinkle in surprises for people, to make them go, oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, what was that? So if I can do that, I will. But I love how the industry– handles everything perfectly in my mind because not perfectly. I mean, there's some people that miss out on certain forms of notoriety. And I did get some male vocalist nominations. I would have liked to had a year or two more of them, which is fine. But when the reason why you stop getting them is because Chris Stapleton comes along and then Cody Johnson comes along and then you go and then more, I mean, when Morgan Wallen probably gets not the credit he deserves as a vocalist too.

35:35 Because we only know his big, his image.

35:38 Man, let me tell you something. Yeah. You do not sing better than Morgan Wallen. And, and you can, so that gets overlooked.

35:52 And not for a bad reason, by the way, I'm just saying that again, I think it's when your songs become such, such bangers.

35:56 They become such a thing.

35:58 It becomes a part of your identity. Even if you didn't go, I would like this to be part of my identity. You recorded 14 songs or however many, one of them blows up. The one that blows up the most is now your identity.

36:08 Right. You're right. I mean, what was it? Um, Oh, gosh. I mean, it'll come to me, but... Anyway.

36:22 I don't even know where you're leaning. I would love to help you right now, but you just.

36:25 Well, I'm trying to... There was an artist that was a world-class singer that then did put a fun one out that got known for that, and then it really messed him up, and I can't remember who it was, but.

36:39 The crazy one to me is Bobby McFerrin. who Bobby McFerrin is a very scat, like, don't worry, be happy. He hates the song because that's not even what he's about. He is not about that. He's not about that life at all. He's a very much art artist, and that is a little song I wrote. You might want to, but that's what.

37:01 He's not about. I had an example like that one, but I wish I could. There was one in country music that was just, just, one of the best singers of all time.

37:12 And then think about it. Let me know.

37:13 Yeah.

37:13 Okay.

37:14 Number five. I don't want this night to end.

37:17 Great. Love it. My thing. Well, when I say great, I'm meaning like great that you picked it. It's not like I'm saying great.

37:25 That we're also not going to question you saying it's great.

37:29 Well, I, one of the best memories, you'll love this memory, Bobby. Um, I always, I was, me and Jason Aldean were really, really morphing into dear friends. I had been out on the road with him for quite a while. And I had computed in my mind to turn the corner to superstardom because Jason had done it. He hit us with like three giants in a row. And the first one was She's Country. I think the second one was My Kind of Party. And I don't know if they were in that order. And then the third one was Big Green Tractor. And he hit them back to back. And I was on the road and I watched that go on.

38:27 So when I hit with Country Girl Shake It, for me, my thought process was, all right, I got the first one. to get toward hopefully superstardom, what's the second? And I had a girl that was head of marketing at Capitol. She came in with, I don't want this night to end. And I was like, really? And I went with her and I had, I didn't know, I'm trying to go become what I saw Jason Aldean just pull off. So the song comes out, it's rocking on the radio. You know, we're coming off the high of Country Ghost Checker for me, and my dad's in town, and I had bought a used BMW. It was about a four-year BMW, but it was like a S-Class, but it was used.

39:23 It was a bigger one, one of the fancy bigger ones.

39:25 It was fancy, but, it had some time on it. I didn't splurge too bad. But I was doing a show in Louisville, and my dad and I, we were going to drive up, do the show, and drive home. And we were just going to write, take this new BMW. We get on the highway. My dad did not like my song choice to be, I don't want this night to end. And I was like, really, Daddy? He goes, I just don't know about all this put your hands up and all this rock and roll sound and all that.

39:59 And I said, well, all right, well, we're in Louisville tonight, and the local station up there, you remember old Coyote, was it AMZ? Yeah. That'd be AMZ. Is that a I Heart's Level? It's me.

40:16 I'm there in the morning now.

40:16 Yeah, yeah. Man, old Coyote calls. He said, Luke, you done put $ 28, 000 in the football or the baseball stadium for football. And we were freaking out, Bobby, that I put $ 20, 000. I mean, at that point in my career, my biggest personal show was that I sold was $ 14, 000 maybe.

40:40 You doubled up.

40:43 When the station said there's $ 28, 000 playing toward you know, home plate or a corner of Louisville Cardinals football stadium. We were riding up and, man, I get to doing my show. And, man, my dad's sitting over there with so much pride. And I kicked into, I don't want this night to end. And it went from here to, I mean, it was as electric as anything I had seen a crowd do. And when I hit him with, you got your hands up, my dad was over there, and I think he was filming with a Blackberry or something.

41:26 And he come back, and we getting the BMW coming home. He goes, I'm just going to understand that I was wrong about your current single, and I'm going to let you do the singing, and I'll do the farming.

41:40 Yeah.

41:41 But that was the memory. When that song took off, I knew that I was like, man, this feels so good that we got two in a row that are really going to be impactful.

41:54 And number four, this one's an earworm. When I hear, play it again, play it again, that one stays in there. What do you think about that one?

42:05 I just am so blessed that that song– I'm so blessed that it happened. I mean, you're getting into these level of songs that when I perform them present day, I never get tired. I beam with pride. I beam because I'm so thankful. And this song is as big as anything I could be a part of. I think it's my closest to a crossover. You know, I didn't get the, I never really had the, we were searching meant to be, FGL. just how big that got. It was giant. It was giant. And like body, like a back road. And now play it again. Didn't get there, but it kind of crossed over. And I think it did open me up to a younger audience. And I just think the story of the song is perfectly done.

43:03 The bridge, you know, Dallas and Ashley, uh, Gorley, Dallas Davidson, and Ashley wrote it. They didn't have the bridge in it. I called them, and I said, boys, you got to let the guy go learn the song and play it for her. And they were like, oh, my God. All right, we'll get back to you. They went, sat down, wrote the verse perfectly. We knew right away. And, man, what was cool back then– is Dallas was doing writer's rounds, and they were both doing writer's rounds. And they were doing it in writer's rounds. And we had that song.

43:45 That song took a minute for us to get to the studio. And they were calling me, Ashley and Dallas, and they were trying it out at these. And they told me, they said, Luke, this will be your biggest song. And I never doubted them. And because they were getting real world feedback, we cut it, never doubted it. And man, you know, last week we just held up a diamond certification.

44:14 I saw that on your social media.

44:16 And that's, that was so cool that Ashley and Dallas and I, we were so dug into our confidence that, I mean, that's, that was just the fun. That was that time in our life where, you know, you could fall out of a tree and, land on your feet you know and we it was just fun that that we were able to predict that far in front.

44:40 Of it and number three drunk on you great say it say it love it great no great yeah great so drunk on you was the third the third musketeer in my attempt to get to um.

44:55 Aldean Al Dean. And, well, I got so many thoughts about it. The reason, if you hear me pause and it's like, when you bring these songs up, like my brain starts, well, the biggest scare of that song was, you make my speakers go boom, boom. Is it cheesy? How cheesy is it? How cheesy? Is it cheesy?

45:21 Did you consider not putting that in? I don't.

45:26 Never considered changing it. I considered it being so cheesy that I may need to back away from it until we go out on farm tour. And Cole Swindell's one of my openers. All my crew, my friends, my management, Dallas, Rodney Clausen's one of the writers on it. In the after parties or the little places, we would put speakers up at farm tour and we would play that demo.

45:55 And I watched... Everybody in my crew starts singing, girl, you make my speakers go boom, boom. And I went, none of these people seem to have a problem with it. And I had people in my world sit me down and go, you got to let go of this boom, boom thing. Because you do that.

46:19 Yeah, you're overthinking it, yeah.

46:20 And I went, all right. And then it became... And it was just, yet again, maybe it, it was one I didn't really prepare for it to be that big. And then it, you know, and then man, it was that time where I was trusting my gut. I was trusting my songwriter's gut and I was trusting people in the label's gut. And man, you were just, I had a crew of people that we were just, we were firing and it was fun. And man, I mean, Song really tells a great story.

47:00 Number two, drink a beer.

47:03 Mm-hmm.

47:06 It's great.

47:10 I was sitting at the island in my house checking some emails, which I have always historically been the worst at. And I don't know. I guess it came from either Stapleton's publisher or Jim Beaver's publisher. And I saw it, drink a beer, hit the space bar, and I hear Stapleton's voice, which at the time, you know, he was on fire as a songwriter. You know, he had just, I guess, had your man. He was, so anytime you heard his voice on a demo, you, You knew there was some real stuff about to go down. And man, when I heard it, it just floored me right off the bat. Right off the bat, I remember I shut my laptop and put it in the seat of my truck.

48:12 And back then, I had about a 40-minute ride to my bus call. My bus company was above town. So I drove. And man, back then, me and my bus driver would listen to songs all night. And I pulled up and I said, Caleb, I got one of the best ones I've ever heard. And I said, it's going to change a lot of people's lives. And man, I laid it out there in the front seat of that bus and man, we played it and me and him sat there and just bawled and we couldn't stop crying about it. And, and it was just a, just a perfect song perfectly done song for me at a perfect time when everybody was ready to box me in as the that's my kind of night guy the country girl the party guy and then I hit him with drink a beer and it just went like oh man and

49:06 then when you look at the ability to have Stapleton sing the backgrounds on the track he sang sang it with me on the CMAs and man it was just I mean had Jim Beavers we were playing we keep bringing up Louisville but Jim Beavers drove up to the Yum Center in Louisville and to watch me do drink a beer and when you look down and see one of your co-writers or one of the co-writers just emotionally overwhelmed watching their song it's just been a It's just been something you hear of artists that have songs that define them and become big and they don't want to play them. I mean, every song you mentioned, when I see it coming up on the set list, I get excited about to this day. And Drink a Beer is probably the one that I get most excited.

50:01 Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor.

50:12 And we're back on the Bobby cast.

50:16 Before we get to number one. And also before you came in, we were talking about signs, the new album.

50:20 Thank you.

50:21 You have so many songs. I feel like you're just competing with yourself now. So when you put out a record, like, what do you want from it now?

50:29 You know, I want to still try to sing better and develop more as a singer on songs. And, um, Man, you know, it's so funny because I want to find the great songs. I want to try to write a few. But man, I want to be in the studio having fun and smiling, and that's what I did on this album. I want to have fun with the albums. I want to find songs that cover the whole gamut of what I think a country music listener is. which is wide and it's more broad and wider than it's ever been, which, you know, I'm excited about. And I feel like this album does that. When you hear the track Signs, it's got a pop sound. But then you got there and then you got a song called Killer that just is as deep and as thought-provoking as a song could be.

51:34 And then I've got fun stuff in the middle and so proud of Finders Keepers with Luke Combs. So amazed he signed up on that. And this album is going exactly like I wanted it to go. It lets people know, hey, this guy's still here. I'm still working. I'm still singing. I'm still digging. I'm still fighting. Yeah, there's a couple bumps and bruises along the way, but there'll be some wins too.

52:05 I like Crooked Rose of Korn.

52:07 I couldn't be more, you know, to be a writer on that, I don't see how I could get through this album and not single that song. It's got the feel good stuff that I want people to take away from my music.

52:24 It's a good one. It's great even. Great, yeah. I said this one. You didn't have to say that one. I said that one.

52:29 Well, I've said if, like I said, if Good Directions and Big Green Tractor could have a child, it's kind of, Crooked rows of corn. Listen, I love living in this space, and I'm going to fight for that one.

52:45 What do you think my number one song is?

52:48 Gosh, let me think.

52:51 This was so easily my number one song that I was able to go, this is for sure number one. Now let me start building back.

52:58 What have you left out?

53:00 Just walking back through.

53:01 It's a hunt, fishing, loving every day. Hold on.

53:02 Let me tell you what we've done so far. At 10, that's my kind of night. Nine, rain is a good thing. Eight, all my friends say. Seven, kiss tomorrow goodbye. Six, sunrise, sunburn, sunset. Five, I don't want this night to end. Four, play it again. Three, drunk on you. Two, drink a beer.

53:20 Well, country goes shaking for me. I don't think you would have picked that.

53:24 That's correct.

53:25 Because you just shouldn't do that.

53:33 Well, I didn't.

53:33 The only reason why you should pick it is you have loved fan reaction to your radio shows all through the years. But, so if I got to take, eliminate that, if you were, you know, Baba Nita bones, you know, maybe. But, so I'm thinking, huh? Baba Nita bones. I got to think maybe Hunting, Fishing, Loving Every Day. Is that your official guess? Well, I'm trying to remember other songs where you, it's either that or Most People Are Good.

54:12 Would you bet it's one of those two? Money, actual money. I'm not going to take your money. I'm just asking if it were up to it, would you bet money it's one of those two?

54:20 But is the song, has the song been a big hit? Like you're not pulling some weird deep cut. Correct, correct.

54:29 I'll bet. It's not.

54:31 Oh! Interesting. Yeah.

54:36 You got to think, when it comes to the music that I like, like I like the songs that make you feel.

54:46 What is it?

54:50 No help. No help from anybody here. I can't believe you haven't even mentioned the song. Like when I think of you.

54:56 It's not fast, is it?

54:57 No, great song though. But when I think of you, I think of this song.

55:01 What am I doing to blank on my music?

55:08 The last, as the song kind of finishes with your vocal, it's kind of a big moment and it kind of just.

55:15 Do I.

55:15 That's it.

55:16 Do I. Yeah. Yes. Sorry.

55:21 I love do I. When I think of you, that's a song I think of first.

55:27 Well, yeah. Thank you for picking that one. I mean, it gets lost in my head a little bit.

55:37 Why?

55:41 I don't even know. But when I play it, I've morphed into playing it acoustically this year, which is so fun. just to let them sing it back. And it's as big as anything else I got. And it was, man, it was a crazy time. You know, when I think about the funny story behind this is I went to my record label. All my friends say was, went to number five. My second song we rode in trucks tanked at 35. Shouldn't have, though. I'm just playing. Anyway, and then Countryman, which was, it went to nine, and then I recorded all these songs, and I turned in some songs to my label, and they shot them down, and Mike Dungan told me to go back to the drawing board, and I went to the CFO, the finance guy, and I said, man, I need a piano in the house.

56:46 Can you float me the money? And I went and found a Baldwin piano and shipped, and they brought it to the house. And I sat down night one and played the lick on piano and wrote half the chorus to do night one on that damn piano. And the next day, Charles Kelly and Dave Haywood walked in.

57:06 From Lady A.

57:07 From Lady A. And they, we wrote it.

57:14 And.

57:16 They jumped right on board. And we wrote it. And Hillary sang backgrounds. And the craziest thing is Need You Now almost kept Do I from being a number one. Really, it really messed my song up. Because Need You Now parked up there for six weeks. Do I was number two for six weeks. But I look at me and Dave and Charles... sitting down and yeah, man, that vocal was kind of a little bit of a showing this guy kind of can sing a little bit, had all the emotions, had the heartbreak. So yeah, man, that's awesome.

58:04 You picked that. I think that, yeah, I mean, man, sitting there, the fact that playing piano and And I did it a lot, you know, when we were in Vegas, just me and a piano, and that's just one I'll be able to just sit down and kind of have my Adele moment with, hopefully. But Song was my lead single off my second album, and everybody goes, never lead an album with a heartbreak ballad. And we went against the grain, and we went with it, and the song– Stood up to all of the stuff and went on to really set my career in motion with, you know, my second album.

58:53 It would be your first number one, right?

58:55 It was. It was. Yeah, it was. And I think it went number one in one chart. It didn't go number one in another chart. But like I said, need you now. I mean, you talk about some people on a roller coaster with Lady A and and Dave and Charles and man it was pretty pretty special times we were we were living it up.

59:17 Final question those shows that you and Aldine do I know you have one more in Vegas coming up what's that dynamic like when you're doing that show.

59:29 When we sat down to plan it, we didn't want to alternate nights. We just wanted to build a show together. In my opinion, if he and I can do this for a long time together, five to six a year, I will ride roller skates to go do it. I have so much fun doing it because I'm up there with him. He and I have had such a great relationship in this business through the years. We navigated 2010 to 2020 with so much friendship and respect and having fun for each other's career. And then we get to share all this on a big tour. And so he does three. While he's up there, I'm in a green room on stage Hamming it up with friends and drinking a vodka drink, watching my buddy play for 60,000 people.

1:00:35 He gets midway through the third song. I hand my drink to my tour manager. I put my ears in. He goes, y'all welcome back to the stage. My buddy Luke Bryan, I go do my three songs. And for two hours and 20 minutes, we trade off. And we get breaks, we get breathers. And I think the fans just sit there and go, oh my God, oh my God, this is crazy. This is fun. And it's really fun.

1:01:06 Jason and I sat down and like I said, we didn't want any egos involved. Our bands, man, when you see his band and my band interact together, that doesn't happen much. It's always a West Side Story kind of thing. You know, Yeah, but we're all, and man, you know, Jason's band, man, we have so much respect for those guys, and it's really a fun dynamic. We've got, I can't wait to see how Vegas shapes out.

1:01:40 December 11th.

1:01:41 December 11th.

1:01:42 December 11th for you guys.

1:01:43 The Double Down.

1:01:44 Well, look, appreciate you. Congratulations.

1:01:46 Thank you for your record.

1:01:47 Got another song about to hit number one. We were talking about all that before you came in, and you're still doing Crash on the Ply. That thing is getting bigger.

1:01:54 It's big. We've got, We've got interesting, fun stuff happening with that.

1:01:59 That sounds dirty. I don't know what you're meaning, but how you said it and nodded your head, it felt very dirty.

1:02:04 Well, just Dustin Lynch's pool party story.

1:02:07 Okay, fair enough.

1:02:08 And maybe a couple of ice cubes down there, a little, you know, beware of that. But no, Playa's been a blast.

1:02:15 Good to see you.

1:02:16 Thank you.

1:02:17 Thanks for letting me run my list by you.

1:02:18 I can't believe I forgot about Dua.

1:02:23 That's my number one. It's not even close. drink a beer is the only one that can even be in the same arena with it. But it's a, so far number one that it wasn't even, and I thought I'm gonna do this with Luke cause I'm a friend. And I was like, I'm going to do this. Feel comfortable doing it. It was like, well, easily it's do I.

1:02:37 What's the list? I was at crash my playa and Ella Langley said she wanted to do a duet with me when she was at crash my playa. She wanted to do it, do I with me. And, uh, Man, I can't get her on the phone these days. I'm playing. That's a joke.

1:02:59 Thank you, guys. Everybody watching on Netflix, thank you for watching. If you're listening to the podcast, thank you for listening. That is the great Luke Bryan. Check out the new record, Signs, and the Double Down. Hey, Farm Tour over?

1:03:10 Farm Tour was halfway completed. Man, we had the worst. We've had years of perfection, and then the last couple years, man, we've just had rains and rain outs. But we are steadfast in our journey of supporting the American farmer. Amen, brother.

1:03:29 All right, there he is, the great Luke Bryan.

1:03:33 Thanks for listening to a BobbyCast production.